Prior heat-resistant copolymers can be classified, according to the component and the polymerization process, into different types. Specifically, the heat-resistant copolymers are broadly classified, according to the component, into maleimide-based copolymers and α-alkylstyrene-based copolymers, and are classified, according to the polymerization process, into emulsion copolymers, suspension copolymers, solution copolymers and bulk copolymers.
The maleimide-based copolymers are generally prepared using a solution polymerization process due to technical problems associated with polymerization. Generally, the maleimide-based copolymers contain a large amount of maleimide, and thus they show high heat distortion temperature and high thermal decomposition temperature properties, and have an advantage of greatly improving the heat resistance of various thermoplastic resins, when they are blended with the thermoplastic resins. Meanwhile, when the maleimide-based copolymers have a high maleimide content, they will have a considerably high melt viscosity, leading to a high processing temperature, and stay at high temperatures, which deteriorate the color tone. Also, because heat resistance and impact resistance are generally inversely proportional to each other, the maleimide-based, heat-resistant copolymers have a problem in that an increase in the amount thereof blended with various thermoplastic resins leads to a rapid decrease in the impact resistance of the thermoplastic resins. In addition, they have a disadvantage in that, because they contain a large amount of expensive maleimide, the resulting heat-resistant copolymers have low price competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the α-alkylstyrene-based copolymers are mainly prepared using a bulk polymerization process or an emulsion polymerization process. The α-alkylstyrene-based copolymers prepared by bulk polymerization generally have a low α-alkylstyrene content, leading to a low melt viscosity. For this reason, they have advantages in that they have excellent processability, and when they are blended with various thermoplastic resins, the thermoplastic resins have a good color and excellent impact resistance and are relatively inexpensive. However, the α-alkylstyrene-based copolymers prepared by bulk polymerization have a disadvantage in that it is difficult to exhibit high heat resistance, which is most important. On the other hand, the emulsion-polymerized α-alkylstyrene-based copolymers have an advantage in that they can exhibit a heat resistance of about 135° C. due to a high α-alkylstyrene content. However, these emulsion-polymerized copolymers have disadvantages in that they have a significantly low processability due to a high melt viscosity versus heat resistance, and because low-molecular-weight emulsifying agents and other additives mostly remain in the resulting products due to the characteristics of the emulsion polymerization process, the emulsion-polymerized copolymers reduce the color of various thermoplastic resins, when they are added to the thermoplastic resins. In addition, they can generate gas during their processing, thus making the appearance poor.
More specifically, polymerization processes for preparing the maleimide-based copolymers are broadly classified into three categories: an emulsion polymerization process, a suspension polymerization process and a solution polymerization process. First, the emulsion polymerization process has been mainly applied for the preparation of polymerization products having a low maleimide content, because, when polymerization products have a high maleimide content, they have a high softening point during a polymer recovery process after completion of the polymerization, and thus they are impossible to recover from the emulsion system. This emulsion polymerization process has disadvantages in that the impact resistance of the emulsion polymers is reduced due to the influence of the remaining emulsifying agents, the color tone of the polymers is severely changed during a molding process, and a coagulation system is additionally required. Second, in the case of the suspension polymerization process, a maleimide monomer and an unsaturated vinyl monomer tend to form alternating copolymers. Thus, there is a disadvantage in that, if copolymers having a high maleimide content are to be obtained, a filtering system is additionally required, because non-uniform copolymers having different compositions are likely to be formed. Third, the solution polymerization process has a disadvantage in that it entails a very high production cost, because it requires a process of removing a solvent used in the polymerization and a process of extracting a polymerization product from a solution system using a solvent/non-solvent system. Also, the above-mentioned polymerization processes (the emulsion polymerization process, the suspension polymerization process and the solution polymerization process) can all be carried out in a batch process, which has low productivity.
A maleimide-aromatic vinyl copolymer prepared by solution polymerization, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1982-98536, has excessively high thermal heat resistance and melt viscosity, leading to high processing temperature, is poorly colored due to its poor color tone, and shows poor blendability with ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer; hereinafter, referred to as “ABS resin”) and AS (acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer; hereinafter, referred to as AS resin) due to a great difference in melt viscosity from the resins. Moreover, an N-substituted maleimide-aromatic vinyl copolymer prepared by solution polymerization, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1983-162616, has disadvantages in that a system for recovering a solvent used in polymerization, and a separate solvent tank, are required, and the polymerization product is not practical due to its high production cost. Furthermore, an N-substituted maleimide-aromatic vinyl copolymer prepared by solution polymerization, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-41080, is insufficient in terms of production cost, because the resulting polymerization product synthesized by solution polymerization is precipitated in methanol, and thus a large amount of methanol solvent is required. Also, an α-alkylstyrene-N-substituted maleimide-unsaturated nitrile-aromatic vinyl copolymer has disadvantages in that, because it is prepared by suspension polymerization, non-uniform copolymers having different compositions are likely to be formed, a filtering system is additionally required, and large amounts of additives, such as suspending agents, which remain in the polymerization product, adversely affect the physical properties of the polymerization product. Moreover, N-substituted maleimide-unsaturated nitrile-maleic anhydride copolymers, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 1987-280249 and 1990-189361, are prepared by solution polymerization and have problems in that they are not practical due to their high production cost, have a high melt viscosity, and show poor blendability with ABS resin, because they contain maleic anhydride. Furthermore, α-alkylstyrene-unsaturated nitrile copolymers prepared by bulk polymerization, disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,874,829 and 6,593,424, have good processability, but have remarkably low heat resistance, because they contains α-alkylstyrene as a main component. In addition, N-substituted maleimide-unsaturated nitrile-aromatic vinyl copolymers prepared by solution polymerization, disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,478,903 and 5,565,537, and N-substituted maleimide-aromatic vinyl copolymers prepared by solution polymerization, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2004-307760 and 2005-54097, have problems in that they have a considerably high production cost due to the use of the solution polymerization process, show excessively high heat resistance and melt viscosity, leading to high processing temperature, and have low processability. Also, when these copolymers are blended with other resins, they show low impact resistance, due to a decrease in blendability with the resins, which results from a difference in melt viscosity from the resins.